BHS students 7th in national ProStart

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BROOKINGS – Brookings High School and Mitchell CTE Academy ProStart students represented South Dakota in the country’s premier high school competition focused on restaurant management and culinary arts.

The Brookings management students brought home a seventh-place national prize for their efforts.

The National ProStart Invitational was held from April 27-29 in Providence, Rhode Island. Both teams competed against high school students across the country for trophies, scholarships and bragging rights. This year, nearly 400 student competitors put their skills to the test in front of culinary and restaurant business leaders, family and friends.

The Brookings management team, consisting of Abby Enevoldsen, Angela Lansang, Ainsley Powers and Andrew Rasmussen, competed April 28 and ended up seventh out of 46 teams.

The Mitchell CTE Academy culinary team, consisting of Cody Hagemeyer, Kayla Kluth, Jerry Madsen, Madison Price and Fae Thompson, competed April 29 and finished 41st out of 46 teams. 

The Brookings team is instructed by Joline Dunbar and mentored by Jason Parker of 1481 Grille in Arlington, and the Mitchell CTE Academy team is instructed by Cindy Gerlach and mentored by Troy Pierce.

Supported by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, ProStart is a career and technical education program focused on teaching culinary arts and restaurant management fundamentals through a combination of classroom and industry instruction.

“The level of talent our students hold is truly amazing when they are in competition. Our culinary and management teams spend countless hours preparing for the national competition, and I am always pleased to see how professional, poised and confident our South Dakota teams are,” said Seanna Regynski, South Dakota’s ProStart coordinator. “We had a great showing at the National ProStart Invitational, and I could not be more proud of these talented young students,” she added. 

The South Dakota ProStart program has been administered by the South Dakota Retailers Association and the South Dakota Department of Education since 2007; Regynski has been the state’s coordinator since 2011.

Courtesy photo: Members of the Brookings High School ProStart management team are, from left, Abby Enevoldsen, Ainsley Powers, Andrew Rasmussen and Angela Lansang.